TRANSCRIPT

NARRATIONShark attacks. With summer coming, we all think about them. And when the surf's up, I wonder if the precautions we've all heard about are fact or fiction. Like - do dogs really attract sharks? Are sharks kept away by dolphins? And should you be in the water around urine or blood?

Dr Jonica NewbySo I've decided to put some shark-avoiding tips to the test. I've got a dog, I've got some blood, the dolphins are on standby, and we're going in there to see what happens in a pool full of potentially woman-eating sharks.

NARRATIONWe've come to Sea World, where director Trevor Long has kindly agreed to help me in my endeavour. This is home to some of the largest sharks in captivity in the world.

Dr Jonica NewbyWow, what's that one - is that a woman-eating one?

Trevor LongThat's a woman-eating shark, that's a tiger shark.

NARRATIONOf the three main shark species known to kill humans, this tank holds two. The tiger, and the deadly bull shark.

Dr Jonica NewbyTrevor, what have I got myself into?

Trevor LongWell, when you spoke to me on the phone I thought, 'Gee, does this girl know what she's doing?'

NARRATIONTest two requires one dog. Well, we do realise we can't use a real dog, so meet Rufus. The dolphin test, number three, has taken a bit more thought.

Trevor LongWell, we've spoken to the dolphin trainers and for this experiment, what we're thinking of doing is putting you in the water with the dolphins, and then introducing this nine foot shark.

Dr Jonica NewbyHow do you think they'll react?

Trevor LongWell, we've never done this before so it's going to be very, very interesting.

NARRATIONNo getting out of it now tomorrow we're all swimming with the sharks. Dawn. Feeding time for sharks, and our sharks haven't eaten for two days. Trevor Long:Are you getting nervous?

Dr Jonica NewbyJust a little. Trevor Long:A little nervous.

Dr Jonica NewbyJust a little nervous. You do realise I only got my diver certificate two weeks ago. I can't actually believe my first ever free dive is going to be in a shark pool surrounded by my own blood - whose stupid idea was this?!

NARRATIONHere goes. For our experiment, we're using an animal behaviour research technique. We'll score the number of shark approaches in a 3-metre radius, over a 10-minute period. We're getting a control score of normal shark traffic first, then we'll introduce the urine.

Trevor LongWell, five minutes into it. It would appear that Jonica's urine has frightened the sharks.

NARRATIONThey are definitely circling. But the blood soon dissipates, and my time's up.

Trevor LongSome very interesting results there.

Dr Jonica NewbyThe urine, they approached just exactly the same amount of times as the control, but the blood I really thought I got a reaction. The others got 14 and this is 19 for the blood.

NARRATIONSo how does this fit with the known science? Well, we contacted the world experts from the International Shark Attack File in Florida. Like us they found no evidence urine attracts sharks. But surprisingly, so far there's no data that links bleeding and shark attacks, either. As for the likelihood your blood will attract sharks well, while their sense of smell is good, it's not as supernatural as people think especially for the small amounts of blood released routinely by a human.

Trevor Long50-100m is going to be as far as it goes, and then the dilution factor is going to take over.

Dr Jonica NewbyOK, onward and upward, the dog. Shark fishing, with a dog.

NARRATIONApparently, it's not the smell, it's the splashing movement and bite-sized nature of dogs that's most likely to attract sharks.

Trevor LongThere you go.

Dr Jonica NewbyHere we go! (Laughs)

Trevor LongWell, that was an interesting reaction.

NARRATIONBut we can't fully replicate a real dog. So we also asked our experts in Florida to perform a special analysis of the shark attack statistics, just for Catalyst. To their surprise, they found since 2001, furry animals were involved in 1 in 25 shark attacks on people that's way over the odds. Finally, do dolphins keep sharks away?

Dr Jonica NewbySo I understand there's something special about the dolphin you've chosen for this experiment.

Trevor LongSimon actually comes from the wild. Now that was back in 1967, but Simon would have seen sharks.

NARRATIONAt the moment, he's one curious dolphin. But let's see how he reacts when we get this beast in the water. We're going to pull the replica shark straight past me. Will Simon protect me?

Trevor LongLet's go.

Dr Jonica NewbyHere comes the shark!

Trevor LongAnd Simon's gone. (Laughs)

Dr Jonica NewbyThere goes Simon. (Laughs) Well, the shark didn't even get within ten feet of me before Simon took off.

NARRATIONJust to be sure, we try again.

Dr Jonica NewbyDolphins keep sharks away fiction.

NARRATIONNow, that's not to say dolphins don't sometimes protect people, it's just that they are not a reliable indicator of the presence or absence of sharks.

Trevor LongThat's the message we want to get out there. Don't assume if you see dolphins there won't be sharks there, there could be.

NARRATIONSo urine won't attract sharks, a bit of blood might, but only if the shark is within 100 metres. Dogs do increase the risk of shark attack slightly. And dolphins don't keep sharks away. Well then, what does attract sharks?

Trevor LongThe sharks are more interested in fish. We are not in their food chain.

NARRATIONIn truth, shark attacks are so rare, you're twice as likely to be killed by a bee. In Australia, over the last 100 years, fatal shark attacks have gone down, even though our population has gone up. That reflects the fact we've hunted some shark species to oblivion. So unless I'm in a known shark feeding area, I won't bother doing much different, given it's the sharks who are in danger from us, not the other way round.

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Smog Deaths Vs Shark Attack Deaths:Globally, far more people die because of particulates and toxic substances in the air than in traffic accidents.According to researchers, more than 5.5 million people die each year because of polluted air. Smog is responsible for one tenth of all deaths worldwide.In China alone, it is estimated that over 4,000 people a day die because of smog.Traffic deaths, however, account for 1.25 million deaths a year according to the WHO. That is just under 3,500 each day.This number has remained steady for the past ten years, despite increasing levels of traffic. In aviation accidents over the past ten years, an average of 740 people have died each year.As for war casualties,there have been 5.5 million victims of war in the last 50 years,about the same number that die because of smog every year.And how many people die from shark attacks? Between 2005 and 2015, an average of 6.5 people a year.Far more people are killed by cows.

Moderator: Thanks for your post. We're not able to include links to blogs so I've taken the liberty of cutting and pasting the relevent information. Catalyst moderator.

whatdoctor - 12 Dec 2015 8:03:13am

Surfers are often reported as being attacked by sharks. It is my opinion that this is because, from a shark's viewpoint, the white underside of the board - mixed with four paddling things (hands and feet) - make a surfer look like a turtle.